West Virginia - Day 6

Day 6 - our last day in West Virginia and long drive home. 

We left our hotel in Hurricane and made a quick stop at Valley Park (just down the road from the hotel). We drove through the park and took a short walk just beyond the pond, to the swing. 

The morning was chilly but magical. The sun was peeking through the trees and burning off the morning dew.

 

We had some fun at the swings for today (the last 2 of the trip). 

We drove into Huntington for a few stops - including our last swing, located at Rotary Park. The location of the swing offered a great view of the city below. 

We left Rotary Park and headed towards Spring Hill Cemetery and Marshall University to visit the memorials from the 1970 plane crash that killed all 75 football players/coaches/staff/alumni on board (the 2006 movie, We Are Marshall, is based on this devastating story). 

One last stop in Huntington as we headed out of town. This memorial is located at the site of the plane crash (just west of the Huntington Tri-State Airport on Old US 52).

We left West Virginia and headed into Kentucky. We had a choice to make - which way to drive home. Matt looked at our options and decided to travel through Kentucky - skirting around Lexington and Louisville.

Louis & Clark Bridge over the Ohio River (I-265) in Louisville. We drove through the Drumanard Tunnel just before crossing this bridge. 

We made a few stops on our way home - lunch, gas, restroom and dinner - arriving home around 9pm. We were beat and thankful to be home. We quickly unloaded the rental and returned it that evening - crossing off one "to do" item from the next day! 

What a wonderful time away for the 2 of us! Lots and lots of time in the car with my favorite travel partner! We drove over 2500 miles in 6 days and saw a huge part of West Virginia while visiting 23 of their 31 swings! We look forward to visiting again in coming years - finding more Almost Heaven Swings and spending time doing the things we had to pass up on this trip. 

Favorites from Day 6

Matt - Marshall University (memorials)

Becki - Marshall University (memorials)

Our Favorite Swing/Stop

Matt - Blackwater Falls & Point Pleasant
Becki - Blackwater Falls & Rail Explorers Depot

West Virginia - Day 5

Day 5 - We left our hotel in Beckley and made a quick stop at Tamarack Marketplace, which was literally behind our hotel! Tamarack was the site of the most recently installed Almost Heaven Swing. I happened to look at the website the night before we left and saw that a new one had been added to the list (2 actually...but Gassaway Depot was too far out of our way to add to this trip). When I looked up the Tamarack location, I was thrilled to see that we could easily add that to our itinerary.

Tamarack hadn't opened for the day (it was 7:30 am), but we were able to walk around and look at the sculptures and get pictures of the swing (it was wet, so we improvised). 

We left Tamarack and headed to Summersville Lake State Park, an hour north.

As we drove through the New River Gorge area, we saw a familiar sight, ha!

So, evidently Summersville Lake State Park is a brand new park and the state is still "building" it. We had an address and went there, only to see this...

We felt like we were in the wrong place so we ended up driving around the lake, looking for the swing.

We walked out to the overlook and enjoyed the quiet and beauty of the morning.

We stopped at Summersville Lake Retreat to see the Lighthouse and this cool log cabin mailbox. 

While driving around the lake, we came across a large group of kids and volunteers - they were there for a school field day. We stopped and asked a volunteer if she knew where the swing was. She didn't, but promised us that she would find out. We continued driving down that road then flipped around to head back out, stopping to chat with her again on the way out. We had told her that we had the address for the State Park but it seemed wrong. When we chatted with her the 2nd time, she confirmed that the swing was at the State Park and that the address we had was correct. She informed us that the park was new, just opened and was a work in process. We thanked her (super sweet lady!!!) and headed back to the address that we had. 

Sure enough, this parking lot (looked like a private construction parking lot) was correct. I have circled the "Now Open" sign and behind it, the parking lot where we parked and walked up to the swing. Finding this swing was an adventure (rather frustrating, honestly). It took a lot of extra time, but we got to see the lighthouse, the lake and met the super sweet lady! So, the extra time wasn't wasted.

You can see how we missed the sign as we were driving Hwy 19 (55 mph).

Summersville Lake State Park Swing

Wet Swing, so no sitting on this one!

The road below looks like a park road, right? Well, this is the road we drove from Summersville Lake SP to Rail Explorers Depot in Elk River! It's not a one way either...add the twist and turns, climbs and descents, this was a scary road at times. We drove this road for 45 minutes - luckily, it wasn't always this bad. We even stopped to snap the 2nd picture - a promise of a better road!

We stopped to snap this picture of the railroad bridge. We were stopped for a few minutes and didn't see another vehicle at all!

Rail Explorers Depot Swing

We arrived at Rail Explorers Depot and walked around the area, enjoying the scenery. 

Leaving Elk River, we drove to Gauley Bridge to see Cathedral Falls (right along Hwy 60). The water level was low due to a drought the area was in the midst of...but we still walked back to enjoy the falls.

Ten minutes up the road, we stopped at Hawks Nest State Park. We walked the Overlook Trail and then spent a few minutes in the gift shop.

We asked the clerk which hike he would suggest to see some waterfalls. He suggested Mill Creek Falls and then pulled out a map to show us where to go. We assumed that the trailhead was right there...but nope, it was a few miles "down the hill" and "then turn at the Walgreens - it's a sharp turn so don't miss it" and "go under the tunnel" and on and on! Wow, thankfully he gave us a map (we still got lost!!). 

We finally found the small gravel parking lot and set out on foot on the Ansted Rail Trail.

The 1 mile hike to the falls was a nice flat walk - an old railroad line made into a hiking, bike trail. We had the trail and falls to ourselves, so that was nice. With the ongoing drought, we were able to climb out onto the rocks. 

This combination of rocks reminded us of a turtle.

Once Matt was out in the middle of the creek, he noticed that the rock I was standing on didn't have anything beneath it. Crazy! Also, do you see this turtle head?

While enjoying the falls, we saw a car drive by across the creek. WHAT?!?! You mean we could've driven to the falls?!? I mean, it is always nice to get out and walk and be in nature....but with our super long days, it would've been nice to know that driving was an option. We looked at each other and laughed...then shrugged our shoulders. Oh well. 

Once back to the car, we grabbed some snacks and water and decided on our next stop. 

We left Ansted and headed towards Fayetteville. We didn't plan on spending too much time in the area since we had spent time here just 2 years ago.  We had thought about doing the bridge walk or a hike to Long Point overlook (about 3 miles total), but ended up doing neither of those. The Bridge Walk looks amazing...but it is expensive. Because of the expense, I wasn't comfortable purchasing tickets ahead of time (we didn't know when we would be traveling through the area nor what the weather would be like). When we looked at purchasing tickets the night before, they were sold out with the exception of late afternoon. We knew that doing the bridge walk that late in the day wouldn't work for our schedule so we decided no - maybe another trip. We also decided to bypass the Long Point Hike due to time constraints. Matt was fighting a migraine too so we needed to find food and get some meds. 

While researching this area, I read a tip about Adventures on the Gorge Resort. On the gorge side of the resort, we could walk to an overlook to see a great view of the bridge. I walked around the resort (looks like a great place to stay!) but wasn't able to access the overlook as it was just beyond the swimming pool - closed for the season. I was able to snap a picture from the other side of the pool. The bridge is so impressive!

After a much needed lunch (it was now mid-afternoon), we left Fayetteville and headed to Charleston, an hour west. 

West Virginia University Blue/Gold 

Two quick stops in Charleston - 2 swings. One at the Capital Building and the other at the University of Charleston (across the Kanawha River). We were getting short on time. So we hurried (as much as we could) through these 2 stops. 

We had stopped at the capital building during our last visit but there wasn't a swing located there at that time. We also hadn't walked around the back side of the capital due to construction. Today, we found a parking spot and walked all the way around the block, enjoying the statues and monuments as we walked. The squirrels were friendly too. 

Leaving the capital, we crossed the river to the University of Charleston, found a place to park and headed to the boat house along the river to see the swing. 

Looking directly at the sun, ha! We tried to reposition the camera with little luck. So, we outsmarted the sun and turned around, haha!

Our hotel for our last night was located in Hurricane (30 minutes away). We decided to drive a bit further to Huntington (1 hour) to visit the Marshall University memorials and the Rotary Park Swing. We were worried about waning daylight and parks/cemeteries closing so we were stressed to get there quickly. Either way, whatever we could see that night would help with our busy, long next day. 

Our agenda for the next day included Huntington (Marshall University), 2 swings (Hurricane & Huntington) and Point Pleasant (swing) then a 9 hour drive home. We really wanted to knock out the Huntington stops so we could hit Point Pleasant first thing in the morning and then drive home. However, we knew (as we were driving towards Huntington) that we wouldn't be able to accomplish everything in Huntington before the sun set on the day. 

I had a thought while driving, I looked to see how far we were from Point Pleasant - less than an hour. I suggested that we scrap Huntington and head north to Point Pleasant to find the swing and scratch that from our agenda (the next day). This change in plans worked out wonderfully! 

Tu-Endie-Wei State Park Swing

Tu-Endie-Wei is a Wyandotte word meaning Between two waters. This park sits at the confluence of the Ohio & Kanawha Rivers. The sun was setting as we drove across the bridge into Point Pleasant. It was a gorgeous evening and we really enjoyed walking around the park - reading the historical markers and looking at the monuments. What a beautiful evening we were blessed with!

We left the park and grabbed a late dinner, then made one last stop in Point Pleasant. We took a moment to pay homage to Mothman...

We drove the hour back to our hotel, ready to be done driving. We were blessed by the hotel clerk who upgraded our hotel room as a surprise (more room and 2 large TVs, lol). Another long day of driving and exploring. It was wonderful! Changing our plans at the last minute really helped too - our Day 6 would be a bit lighter now that we had crossed Point Pleasant off the list.

Favorites from Day 5
Matt - Point Pleasant, Mill Creek Falls

Becki - Walking around the Capital Building, Point Pleasant Evening